Hey Everyone. My wife's Monte recently developed a small radiator fluid leak. I've isolated the leak to the bottom driver's side corner of the radiator. The attached pic's show (1) the area where the drips occur - right at the rubber mount (2) the plug where the leak seems to originate which is just above the rubber mount (gotta love small cameras that can peak into tight spaces) (3) and a pointy orange rubber cover that I found in the bottom of the radiator frame near the same corner.

My questions:
- What exactly is the plug that seems to be leaking?
- Is this known as a weak point? Is it a common culprit for leaking? Is it a part I can order from a regular parts shop or will I need to visit a radiator shop? Or junkyard?
- What is the pointy orange cover supposed to be covering?

I haven't found any other area where fluid seems to be leaking. But I can't see very well down there, so I'm not certain that I've identified the only issue. Anything else I should look for in that general area regarding a possible leak?

Please feel free to share any other thoughts / advice. I've never had to do any radiator work on this car before (other than preventive maintenance) so I'm a newbie in this arena. Thanks, gang.

BTW... I'll be without internet access tomorrow until late afternoon. So it may take a while for me to see / respond to any replies.

 

What exactly is the plug that seems to be leaking? = Drain plug
What is the pointy orange cover supposed to be covering? = Just rubber cover for lines , you can throw away.

 

Pic 1586 looks like the radiator drain ****. First question is, is that still tight, or has it come loose? I know I broke the nylon drain **** on my wife's Mustang and was RELIEVED to find it is a replacement item from the DorMan HELP rack at the parts store.
The orange rubber thing, I wouldn't throw it out, but I would guess it's some sort of vibration dampner for the radiator. But that's a guess (or someone dropped it while doing another job and that's where it got stuck).

If you can get a radiator pressure tester, you can pressurize the cooling system and then watch/listen for the leak and make sure it's leaking out of there (and that it's not wet from snow flinging up and melting around it).

 

Thanks for the help, guys. I'll check to see if the drain plug is simply loose. I'll also try to get a pressure tester to verify the location of the leak(s).

 

The drain plug was a tiny bit loose - I tightened it about 1/8 of a turn. I don't want to crank on it much since it's only nylon.

I still plan to borrow a pressure tester to check the system out. My wife and daughter have a 6-hour drive (one way) in about 2 weeks. Need to ensure all is well before they hit the road.

Thanks again for the help.

 

I replaced the radiator drain plug hoping that would cure the leak. No such luck. Put the pressure tester on after installing the new plug and it leaked just as bad as before. I can't see well enough to figure out exactly what is leaking. The pic's I took shoving a small camera in there seems to show fluid coming out around the plug. Today I have to decide whether to bring it to a radiator shop for diagnosis & repair or just drop in a whole new radiator myself. It has 140K+ miles on the stock one, so I've gotten my money's worth out of it.

I haven't shopped for a new radiator before. Recommendations anyone?